Equity Research Associate

Consisted of about 6 interviews with different people.

Applied on Workday, found job on LinkedIn.

(1) HR representative - asked me logistics, why i want the job, what i can bring to the table, etc.
(2) COO and another manager of the division - questioned me pretty hard on all topics, what i know about the industry, my background, my prior roles, etc.
(3) Analyst / Managing Director with excel modeling test and writing test - same as (2), and gave me a modeling test and writing test
(4) Other associate - general questions and some questions about my prior roles and my industry experience
(5) Other director on the team - same as (4)
(6) Analyst / MD - last interview, told me how I did on the model test and writing test and asked me more questions about what I was looking for and what I could bring, my work ethic, etc. Told me they were deciding in the next week.

I did not get this role but I was very close and they told me I was very close. I ended up at a different firm in ER. I will share with you my takeaways on how to put your best foot forward with getting a role in ER:

- CV has to be on point, of course
- It helps if you can show people that you are smart. I don't know if that is your GPA, a test score, a certification, starting a blog, writing something about the industry you are looking to cover... I don't know. But if you can somehow show this on your resume or CV, you will get an interview. ER is fairly intellectually taxing, depending on which team you are working for. Just like many of the careers posted about on here. If you can't pick things up quickly, they won't want to hire you. Actually, they want to avoid those people, because in ER, there is so much self-management of your time, and you really have to take initiative to get work done for your analyst. A lot of analysts don't like telling you what to do. So you have to pick things up quickly and take initiative, unlike other roles I've seen - so if you can show that in the interview process, you are golden.
- Nail the model test and/or writing test. Go above and beyond. Show you can do the work, and then try and do something extra if you have extra time or something, which is what I did. If you have never been in ER, which is who this is targeted towards, go download some models from companies in the industry you are applying for so you can prepare and even tell them on the interview or in your CV that you are familiar with the models they post. If you can't get access to them try to find one on here or create a brokerage account with Merril or Morgan Stanley (E-Trade)... you can get access to research free on those platforms.
-Sound smart on the interview - like you know what you are talking about when they ask you about stocks or the industry. Speak with authority. Only way to get it is to know something about what you are speaking about. This is the sell-side. People want to talk to people who have the details on things. Obviously, try to do this without sounding arrogant or pompous, because that will ruin your chances.

Looking back at this interview, the people were very nice. Actually, nicer at RBC than many of the other firms I interviewed with. Not that it is about being nice necessarily. However, they were just very professional, and the questions they asked were not to stump me or whatever, they were to get to know me and to sort of test my intelligence and how well I could think and speak on the fly.